From the Vault: Al Rohde vs. King Antonio’s entourage

If you did not read Elaine Ayala’s recent obituary about former city councilman Al Rohde, you should. I didn’t know much about him until Elaine asked for my help in confirming some details, which required reading through our clip files.

He was a colorful guy, especially when dressed up in his “Uncle Sam” outfit. Not a rare occurrence given that he was a World War II veteran and very patriotic. His time in 1976 as mayor pro tem — probably not coincidentally — covered a period around July 4th. I came across an article describing how he was planning to ask his fellow council members if he could wear the outfit when he was sworn in.

He had his share of controversy, as Rohde was not afraid to speak his mind, even if it meant going after such sacred cows as King Antonio.

In the News‘ version of the article the night before, Rohde said “Even the King should have no special preference over Uncle Sam during our 200th birthday celebration, the birthday date we broke away from the King’s rule.” He was mixing his metaphors, but still making a valid point: given the country was celebrating the Bicentennial, it was a bit ironic that a guy dressed as a king was getting special treatment by not obeying traffic laws.

He then went on to say that “as both Uncle Sam and an elected official he would never ask for what he termed a police ‘speed escort’ that breaks city traffic laws.”

The police chief’s response: the king is on a tight schedule and the speed is necessary to get him to all the events. Right.

I’m assuming Rohde didn’t succeed. We didn’t have a follow-up article in the file, and (former) Express-News columnist Rick Casey made a reference in a 2003 column to King Antonio and Rey Feo “rac[ing] around the city with police escorts.”

By the way, the image above is of the actual clip from our clip file — with the pen marks, stamps and creases included.